Bread panning machine



Dec. 8, 1953 H c. RHODES 2,661,880

BREAD PANNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Dec.8, 1953 H. c. RHODES 2,661,880

BREAD PANNING MACHINE Filed July 20, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 arm-M FiledJuly 20, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 [AWE/V70? AL /955W c PHOQES a WWATTO/PNEY Patented Dec. 8, 1953 tenet!) PANNING MAGHINE Bind Shut le:Delawaye me -t nssi hot 9 Qorperetiohh e thinet en 2 Application July20,1948, Serial No. sat-g5 .3 Qleims- (Q1.- 23

1 Thi in ent en e ates eene ell t haltin eq ent the nettieii e ls to e neen tot e iii eetioh oi hens in br e nning nehe' niein e ie e t s in enton o Pr t sie t t tetets'ine th tte el of t en t eih e eonveye line e of e the pe s int a oennihe ineehih The second object is to provide a.machine of i the ele s deserihed whi h w l sa e t e abor of me then andet th hin ime i s e the p op s eliv r and inse t on o t i t the ta nmath-the:

third ehie t s t eteoeoe e ma hine for this hi ese whi h w l he ullyitohi e and eeli st hl t a Wi e a e o pen sit A iutther bject is to $9construct the panning he tien of the l e a eee o do ma he eee irete pated i hin is ten with ut enohins. i by h n one at he seine me eio ieinen Wide tens o eo ihstmeht or l n sit an en th of the o eees ef eioneh t9e ssed n t e en eee tn lish these ne he ob ects in th set iott i the folow n s eoii eetion ee lus at d i the eo tnpehyine er wine i hieh h s: ise pie o th dough n nher sh win h eeh tel etreheenien-te- 2 is e see iente sen e ene the ne 2: F st sh win the breed pans be ed int the neitheon eonve or bel his: 3 s a ,s etion a en alon t e ne t Fi l he ihs thetens en the retu n hel h ihe iil e ii eis a s etio tak n alon t e inet-A in the 1 showin pa hs o the feed belt and retu belt! adjustab en a dpe e ieles.

e- 5 s a a e ar eerseeetive of the dough feed belt and doughstraightener.

his: i i e treeinen e y pers ective showing a detail of he ten uides nd.fin ers that. held the tensis; 7 is a irae nente se ti n taken alon thehe in F show n detail oi securin n h idesl Fi e iteshiehtat eletei ofthe ea n o the operating shaft showing the miprmswlleh n.- a 'Fig. 9 ise heein ntett' ne s milar F g,- 8 showing the mici'o-switch in a closedpog-itign 19 is e ireshtehteit sene el view! sho oi hen n1 e'teiee t9the seine the sevet l views: hete ting sie eil, t the e iel th-iesztheirs is 1 heet 21 n wh ar seeiir s the pull ys 22.

nenne is buil ereunc o honhh heme inelus ihs hottoin the sides l2 n l3ehti to it all o hi h e u rte y h le. it tin e whioh er p sters s.

ne side o ne end of he tom H as bes shown. Fi ure 3 has a mo fl or H hisome hat be w t bot m 1 Res ing on the floor i a d ive mot r I 8 whi h,thtohs the b t I9, d ives the ulley 2 on th e B we t e s es 42 an t as swn i F u e 4, h e i d osed a part tion 4 n Whio is s p te be i gs 25 enit for the sha 21 e d 8 hose outer ds are su por d by the bearings 29and 30 mountegl on the walls [2 en he hafts Z1 and 28 revolve in o osdirectipns.

Du icates o he bearings 25, 26 an 2 and 3.0, n t show are mou ted. on te d scha e end 3! for the shafts 32 en 3- Qh the shaft 28 is secu d e ue 4. t e t run o whose e n eyor b l 3 as es t r u j slot St in he en 4and sli es alone t t p sid hereof a be t sho n in gure 2. Rotation is up ied o the haft i thr u h t e be t .31.

Qn the shaft 2 is seouresi a pu le st, the o I of whose return 105. 1!39 asse thro gh th slots 40 in the top l4 and slides along the top sidehe eo as best sho n in Figu 3! It Will be eted that th t un the e 5 istoward the outlet end L'W e th top u of the belt 35 is in the oppositedirection.

The manner e b a nin he r e dir e wi l b i se ed inte Di ectly nhe e heside. it ter to i ur e th re a to s de 4 nd abo t e par ition 2 s placedthe t p si e 42- h op s sie hi and 42 are joinetlby a cover 43. Mountedacross the sides ll and 42, e Figu 3 a the sh 44 anti 4. ero ln W os ros 5 and 41 as e e doueh fe o belt 4 which is i en by th The en of the euh=feed belt 48 moves n I the h ne dire tio a does he op un f the Y theeeve late 3- ttt theihtake end 5 o the mach ne i mounted an inclinedplate 53 which guides the ehnn e s ou h 54. on o h elt is.

llhistretion and, ex lanation et the t r nreheeine hi ee dough he: lln int hi he hin s 53 end eo ireii its th cover plate 43 a e the senses stanetqs 5.5

across which is mounted the horizontal rod 56 to which is attached aflexible web 51 of woven wire cloth or canvas having the weighted end58, under which the piece of dough 54 is rolled to orient it withrelation to the belt 48 and to give it a finishing touch; that is, toput it in shape for the pan so that it assumes the form of a cylinder59.

A second pair of standards 69 is mounted on the cover plate 43 near theroll 46 and support the rock shaft 6| to which is attached a gate 92under which the roll of dough 59 must pass, causing the gate 62 to riseas shown in Fig. 10.

Also secured on the shaft 6! is a lever 63 which is urged in onedirection by a spring 94 toward an adjustable stop screw 65 mounted on astand ard 69 in the path of the lever 63.

A link connects the lever 63 to the crank 97 on the rock shaft 93 towhich is attached the vane 69 which is normally inclined as shown inFig. 2, forming one side of a dough positioning trough of which thefixed sloping side it forms the other side. When the gate 92 is raisedby a piece of dough passing under it, the vane 99 moves away from thefixed side 19 permitting the dough 59 to fall into a pan H of whichgroups are tied together by means of the rims or in any other convenientmanner, to form sections 13.

It will be understood that the pans ii are on the belt 39, directlyunder the dough-feed belt 98.

In order that each group or section '23 of pans may be stoppedintermittently so that successive empty pans H will be presented forloading under the members 99 and 19, I have provided a special indexingmechanism.

Under the belt 39 is placed a solenoid iii whose core i5 is attached tothe bell crank lever is pivoted on the pin 1'! attached to end 3!. Thelever 19 has an upturned end 19 which, in a raised position as shown inFig. 3, will engage the foremost side of a pan Ti and stop it, althoughthe belt 39 upon which the pan H rests, continues to move.

Within one of the standards is placed what is known as a micro-switch79, the nature and use of which is well known, being simply amechanically closed and spring opened switch whose leads 99 and 8! areconnected to a source of power 92 and to the solenoid M.

On the rock shaft 9! is secured a cam 83 which actuates the switchcontact arm 89.

The operation of this portion of the device is simply as follows:

When a piece of dough 59 passes under the gate 62, causing it to rise,as shown in Fig, 19, it does two things; first, it opens the vane 99,permitting the piece of dough 59, which is being held thereby, to dropinto a pan ll directly below same, during which time the cam 83 closesthe switch i9 operating the solenoid l4 and withdrawing the end 18,permitting the pans ii to move one-pan space under the driving action ofthe belt 39.

Since the raising of the gate 92 is only momentary, then the withdrawalof the end 18 is momentary and the next empty pan is held in waitingunderneath the space between the members 69 and 18.

In other words, there is always a piece of dough waiting to be droppedinto a pan and it is released into the pan by the next piece of doughfollowing, and so on.

Referring now to the conveyor belt 35, it will be noted that while it isparallel to the return belt 39, there is at one side of the belt 35 afence 85 whose end 86 curves into the top side 42. A fence 8'] at theopposite side of the belt 35 is adjustably mounted on the top H by meansof pins 88 which extend into the top [4. The fence 8! has a curvedportion 89 which extends across the belt 35 to the end wall 99 at apoint along the center line of the belt 39.

With the belts 35 and 39 rotating in opposite directions sections ofpans 13, Figure l, are placed upon conveyor belt 35 adjacent the forwardend of the machine and these pans will be carried towards the rear endof the machine. As the pans approach the rear end portion of belt 35 theright hand forward corner of each section of pans, as viewed in Figure1, will engage the outer fence 8'! and the continuous rotation of belt35 will force the section of pans against the curved portion 89 of thefence 8'! so that the pans will be gradually turned as they follow thecontour of the portion 99 of the fence 81, and thus be directed towardsthe inner end of belt 39. By providing the inner end of fence 8'! with acurved portion 89 which extends across both belts 35 and 39, the sectionof pans will follow this curved portion of the fence 8'! as long as aportion of the section of pans remains in engagement with belt 35. Inaddition, subsequent sections of pans will engage one another and tendto force the preceding section of pans around the curved portion 99 ofthe fence 81 to enable the pans to be moved from one belt to the other.

As the forward end of each section of pans engages the inner end of belt39, the rotative movement of belt 39 being counter to the rotativemovement of belt 35, the section of pans will tend to move towards thefront of the machine in a sideways manner until they engage the curvedend 89 of the fence 85. Thus with the section of pans engaging thecurved end 89 of the fence and the forward'end of the section of pansbeing disposed on the belt 39, and the rear portion disposed on the belt35, and with the belts rotating in opposite directions the pans will beswung around the curved end 85 so that the rear end portion of the panswill follow the curved portion 89 of the fence 8']. This swingingmovement of the section of pans will be aided and abetted by thesubsequent sections of pans carried by the belt 35. The rotation of belt39 on the forward end portion of the section of pans will tendto drawthe section of pans onto this belt, while the rotation of belt 35 willtend to force the rear portion of the pans off of this belt and aroundthe curved portion 39 of the fence 3?. The section of pans in beingtransferred from belt 35 to belt 39 are properly positioned on belt 39by the fences 92 and 93, so that the forward end portion of each sectionof the pans will engage the fences 92 and 93 to properly position thepans on the belt 39 as the section of pans moves towards the forward endof the machine.

By setting the pins 88 in the proper holes 9|, various sizes of pans Hmay be used.

The pair of movable fences 92 and 93 have ends 99 which are pivoted onthe pins 95, while the ends 96 are carried by the slide 91 on the guiderod 98 which is stationary over the end'wall 3|. Set screws 99 extendthrough the slides 91 and engage the rod 98. I

The T handle I00 on each screw 99 assists in the tightening of the screwwithout the aid of a wrench. v

In order to secure the needed reversal in the direction of travelbetween the belts 35 and.39, I have employed the spur gearing I9! andI92, as shown in Figure 2. Obviously, any other manner of accomplishingthis, such as crossed belts or 5 separate drive motors, may be employedwithout departing from the spirit of this invention.

It can be seen that one man standing at the end 3| can take care of theloaded pans and return empties to the machine which, on existingmachines, requires the services of two men. Also the manual loading ofthe pans is dispensed with and the operation is made more sanitary aswell as less expensive.

It will be noted in Fig. 4 that the conveyor belt 35 is somewhat abovethe return belt 39 on the top side thereof. This is essential to theoperation of the device.

I claim:

1. In a bread panner embodying a pair of conveyors arranged insuperposed spaced relation, a pair of spaced standards extending abovethe topmost conveyor, a shaft supported in said standards, a gatemounted on said shaft for rotation therewith and positioned intermediatethe standards and engageable with the topmost conveyor, a troughpositioned above the lower conveyor and at an end of said topmostconveyor for receiving a roll of dough from said topmost conveyor, oneside of said trough being stationary and the other side movable tofacilitate the ejection of a roll of dough towards said lower conveyor,a rock shaft aifixed to the movable side of said trough, linkageinterposed between said rock shaft and said shaft for moving saidmovable side to open said trough upon each actuation of said gate by aroll of dough carried by the topmost conveyor, said lower conveyor beingadapted to carry a plurality of pans to receive rolls of dough from saidtrough, a pawl adapted to arrest said pans beneath said trough, meansconnected to said pawl for retracting said pawl from said pans upon eachactuation of said gate and means operated upon the rotation of saidshaft for actuating said first named means.

2. In a bread panner embodying a pair of conveyors arranged insuperposed spaced relation, a

pair of spaced standards extending above the top- 7 most conveyor, arock shaft supported in said standards, a gate mounted on said shaftintermediate the standards and engageable with the topmost conveyor, atrough positioned above the lower conveyor and at an end of said topmostconveyor for receiving a roll of dough from said topmost conveyor, oneside of said trough being movable to facilitate the ejection of a rollof dough towards said lower conveyor, linkage interposed between saidrock shaft and the movable side of said trough for opening said troughupon each actuation of said gate by a roll of dough carried by thetopmost conveyor, said lower conveyor being adapted to carry a pluralityof pans to receive rolls of dough from said trough, a pawl adapted toarrest said pans beneath said trough, a solenoid, linkage connectingsaid solenoid with said pawl, .an electric circuit connected to saidsolenoid and having a switch therein, means on said rock shaftengageable with said switch for closing the circuit to energize thesolenoid upon each actuation of said gate by a roll of dough carried bythe topmost conveyor.

3. In a bread panner embodying a pair of conveyors arranged insuperposed spaced relation, a pair of spaced members extending above thetopmost conveyor, a shaft supported in said members transversely of saidconveyor, a gate having one end affixed to said shaft and the other endengageable with said conveyor, a trough positioned above the lowerconveyor and at an end of the topmost conveyor for receiving a roll ofdough from the topmost conveyor, one side of said trough being movableto facilitate the ejection of a roll of dough towards said lowerconveyor, said lower conveyor being adapted to carry a plurality of pansto receive rolls of dough from said trough, a rock shaft affixed to themovable side of said trough, a crank on said rock shaft, a link securedto said crank, a lever having one end secured to said link and the otherend secured to the shaft supported in said members, said shaft connectedto the movable side of said trough through said lever, link and crankfor actuating same contemporaneous with each raising of said gate by aroll of dough carried by said topmost conveyor.

HERBERT C. RHODES.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,312,640 Mallinckrodt Aug. 12, 1919 1,357,476 Rogers et al.Nov. 2, 1920 1,427,325 Quick Aug. 29, 1922 1,516,016 Kallenbach Nov. 18,1924 1,733,409 Howe Oct. 29, 1929 1,781,546 Harber Nov. 11, 19301,805,018 Scruggs May 12, 1931 1,871,216 Kirchoif Aug. 9, 1932 2,337,526Steadman et a1. Dec. 21, 1943 2,349,423 Harber May 23, 1944

